in english. >> literal translation magna -- >> you're testing me. >> it would be good if you knew this. >> it would. >> there's that latin. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in new york. waiting for israel's prime minister to take his turn at u.n. general assembly any moment now. joining me first, former u.s. ambassador to israel, dennis ross, who held top jobs in middle east policy including iran and three administrations, the obama white house. a midder middle east diplomacy for msnbc and washington institute. dennis, let's talk about what netanyahu signaled he's doing today, demanding an ultimatum to iran on its nuclear program something the administration, the white house, has insisted they needambiguous. who is right here? >> imnot sure there is as wide a gap as you think. i believe what you're seeing is an agreement on the objective of

making certain that iran cannot have nuclear weapons and then also i think agreeing that you have to come up with some kind of threshold to know when the objective of prevention has a meaning and it doesn't lose its content. i do think where the prime minister's coming from is, he wants to put, i think, a premium on having a clear definition of what's the point past which if iran crosses that particular line or tloesh hohreshold you'r longer in a position to prevent them. my guess he'll focus on why it's unacceptable for iran to have a nuclear weapons capability and he'll speak in effect to the world about coming together on not just having open-ended diplomacy but coming to an understanding when you say enough is enough. >> dan senor from the romney campaign and others have been on this program saying that the administration is projecting weakness by signaling -- by saying explicitly they do not want to use the military option,

that's what president obama said on "60 minutes" this week, saying does mitt romney want to start another war. has the president signaled too affirmatively he does not want to exert military force, that he would prefer to avoid that at all costs? >> well, i don't think one wants to create the impression ta you want to avoid the use of force at all costs. i think you want to create the impression, which the president has done, that the option is on the table that we have the means to act on that option but clearly diplomacy is the preference. i'm sure that governor romney also wants diplomacy to be the preference. the question is, is there enough pressure put on iran to change its behavior. no question you have unprecedented pressure on it economically. the real question also is underpinning that economic pressure with the kind of military options that will convince the iranians that if they're not prepared to reach a diplomatic outcome, they're the

ones who pay the bigger price. >> the administration has certainly indicated that they will not tolerate iran having a nuclear weapon. but how will we know? is the intelligence really that accurate? we've made intelligence mistakes before. >> i think it's an excellent question. it's clear that we know a lot about where they are in terms of enrichment. it's less clear that we know precisely where they are, how you take highly enriched uranium and turn it into a bomb. i think we should have a humility when it comes to feeling completely confident, we'll know exactly where they are at all times. i think we're in a good position to have some time but i think we also have to define what prevention means by deciding what's the point at which we would lose a high level of confidence on our part that we know how quickly they can move and whether or not we could still prevent them from having

present a fate acome plea to the world. question you're asking is an important one. >> there's assumption the united states has military might to wipe out the nuclear programs. but there's -- there's an argument that israel's making, these things are hidden, underground. how do we know whether we would just be slowing them down and delaying the inevitable? >> well, i think we have to -- here again we have to wreck flies a certain fact. neither the united states nor israel can destroy the iranian capacity to build a nuclear weapon once and for all. we can destroy all of the facilities in the infrastructure that they have and it would be very costly and take them time to rebuild it, but they have the know-how and engineering capability to rebuild whatever would be destroyed. one of the reason it's important to create a context where the international community believes everything's been done that could be done and you've exhausted all of the diplomatic options and given the economic

sanctions sufficient time, you need that so that the world says, you know what? the iranians had a chance to prevent the use of force against them, they didn't take it because they really want a nuclear weapon. we need to create the kind of context that demonstrates unmistakably we went the extra mile and if we had to use force, in fact, we were left with no choice, and under those circumstances, then iran remains under severe economic sanctions that will extend the time that you set them back, if in fact there's no alternative to the use of force. >> dennis, knowing what you know, you've dealt with the iranians, you know the ayatollah is the only one who has authority to change direction if they're moving towards creating a weapon, do you think some military action by israel and/or the united states is inevitable? >> i don't think it's inevitable but i think iran's behavior is making it more likely. ultimately this is a choice that the iranians have to make. they have to realize that, in fact, the economic pressures

they're facing as severe as they are are not the whole story. at some point, if they don't respond, the president said in his speech that the time is not limited, the time's not without limits, time in effect is running out. the iranians need to take advantage of the fact that while there's still time and space for diplomacy, they need to act on that sooner rather than later. >> do you think that the president was making political decisions in not meeting with any world leaders, not meeting with netanyahu but there was a scheduling issue because he was planning to be campaigning today while netanyahu is in new york? >> you know, i think that the president didn't make a -- i think he was focuses on larger sets of questions. he came to new york, he gave a speech, i think his focus this time around at the u.n. was on making the speech and sending a message, a very clear message, to those in arab and muslim countries that, when you are in fact feeling that you are agreed by something done through a video it's understandable to take offense, it's not

understandable to use the offense and turn it into violence. i think he didn't need, at this point, to have 60 bilaterals at a time when most leaders who would be coming here themselves realize that the u.s. is in an election campaign. >> dennis, while we've been sitting here, abbas, the palestinian leader, has taken to the podium, after him one other speaker, and then the prime minister of israel. if they keep to the current schedule, what president abbas has been saying is that he has only one conclusion from the failure of talks, talks that you led in several administrations, prior to this, that israel no longer accepts the two-state solution of israel and a neighbor palestine right next door. let's listen to a little bit of what mahmoud abbas is saying to the united nations. >> military military colonial o packaged under new napes the

unilateral plan for a so-called state with provisional borders. i repeat, provision, a state with provisional borders, this is a project that we categorically reject from az because it shall not bring about peace. mr. president, israel refuses to end the occupation and refuses to allow the palestinian people to attain their rights and freedom and rejects the establishment of the state of palestine. israel is promising the palestinian people a new catastrop catastrophe, a new set secret service -- set back. >> it's clear there has been not only no progress but setbacks that the hope of two states, the hope of a negotiated solution,

that you had for so many, many years, has really been stalemated. what has to happen to get this back on track? >> you know, i think you're putting your finger on what is the biggest, single problem right now. right now on both sides there is a loss of faith and a loss of belief in a two-state outcome. the palestinians look at this and think the israelis are not committed to two states, israelis look at palestinians and think the palestinians are not committed to two-state outcome. i think what's required right now is to focus on how could one restore faith and belief in each side's commitment to producing two states? what steps could the israelis take that would send a message to palestinians they remain committed to two-state outcome? what steps could palestinians take to say they're committed to two-state outcome? the focus needs to be on those kinds of steps, those kinds of actions, those kinds of statements, that each side could

use aan agenda for discussions that would allow them to demonstrate, again to each other, that they remain committed to two-state approach. right now the disbelief is youth weighing anything else and creates a context, makes it very difficult to move towards peace. >> dennis ross, thank you very much. we'll will be carrying prime minister netanyahu's speech live as well. while world leader are speaking in new york, president obama and mitt romney kicking their swing state campaign into overdrive. both charting from ohio to virginia, the state that could be the must-win in november. joining us now, chris cillizza, managing editor of post politics.com and peter alexander following the romney campaign. welcome to both. chris, first of all, how important is virginia? they've gone, both from ohio to virginia. they seem to be tag teaming it, the two weekends. >> reporter: yeah, i would say, draa, we've talked about this, the visits, where they spend their time is so carefully

calibrated to spend it in media markets and states that they absolutely need. ohio, mitt romney, i think needs and is behind. virginia, i think mitt romney mitt romney needs and is behind. one thing to remember about virginia a state, before barack obama won in 2008 everybody the last democratic presidential candidate come win it was lyndon johnson in 1964. it's remarkable that we're talking about virginia in the terms that we are. there's been a big demographic shift with northern virginia a big democratic population. it is remarkable, it's a place where barack obama deserves credit for expanding what was the democratic map in the early 2000s, virginia, north carolina, both competitive this time. he won both of them in '08 as well. >> peter alexander, you've been with the candidate today. talk about his speech. he had an intelligence briefing from the cia today. interesting this traditionally before the debates, he's been doing a lot of debate prep, but

foreign policy is taking somewhat more of a roll in the campaign and certainly their attention to it. >> reporter: yeah, andrea, that's right. his second intelligence briefing. first one taken a week ago in los angeles at some of the headquarters there. you know what's interesting to note is the focus in virginia, of course, is on military issues, attacking the president on sequestration, the looming defense budget cuts effectively linking defense and national security to the economy which has been his primary message. the campaign has been flooding reporters with numbers and he mentioned them today, suggesting that sequestration cuts would effectively have an impact on 168,000 jobs, costing 168,000 jobs in the state. he said 136,000, 68,000 among small businesses specifically. and he was here with people in this critical battleground who he said have been to battle before. these are people in the military

community, a lot of veterans here at american legion hall where he was speaking that he hopes will support his message of american strength through strength and not through weakness militarily. >> i have been a little puzzled by the campaign's posture on this because it was a republican and democratic agreement, the automatic triggers for these automatic cuts from sequestration if they didn't agree to a budget deal, and they didn't agree to a budget deal so this was something that the president and john boehner agreed to, reluctantly. i'm not clear on how mitt romney separates himself from his republican colleagues on the hill who went along with this. >> well, i posed a similar question to people here. first he said clearly, if i ever become president i will stop it. when i asked the people supporting him today, i asked about the poll numbers, they don't believe the polls now. the only poll that matters is november 6th. but when you ask them specifically about the situation in american government right now they said the real issue that's

hanging over mitt romney is just the fact that people hate, they detest, congress, the fact that nothing gets done in washington and as one man put it, he thought it hung around mitt romney's neck like an albatross because the house of representatives, of course, has a republican majority. nonetheless, what was interesting here, while the president spoke to a larger crowd this was appeared like a specific messaging event where romney was speaking to a smaller crowd, like you're running for mayor of a major city or governor of the state of virginia. only 200 people here today. >> the other thing that's really interesting to watch in the last 48 hours how focused they are on defending against the 47% remark from the videotape that came out last week because this is something that was very clear in his comments to our colleague, ron allen in ohio yesterday. let's watch. >> don't forget, i got everybody in my state insure, 100% of the

kids in state have health insurance. i don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of the country that that kind of record. >> he's trying to say that he doesn't not care about the 47% and he's embracing health reform, the massachusetts health reform which he ran away from during the primaries. you've covered him from the beginning, you know. he's talking about empathy and caring and health reform. we have not heard this from him before. >> reporter: no, no, i think that's right. he hit the words care, empathy, he used that language multiple times yesterday. this is what effective campaigns do when they try to get their message across they hammer you all day long. -year-older in the week attacking the president for his comments referring to the losses of lives and to the or chaos and crises in the middle east as bumps in the road he met with me and some other reporters, they had a teleconference that they told us about, they spoke about that message on the stump. romney's trying to make sure

that this message gets across, that he cares about americans, he's well aware of the perception that is sort of sticking to him as a result of those 47% comments and the fact that a lot of people view the president as the guy they would quote/unquote like to have a beer with. on that topic, a short time ago, we are learning with local interviews taking place one of the questions asked of mitt romney was, what do you think of the nfl referees coming back and i think his answer was i sure hope they do. he wasn't aware they had come back. i asked about the patriots game, he said, i didn't watch it. he's not a huge sports fan. it's mosts like that he tries to show he connects with people. on football, that's one place he won't. >> he wasn't awake when they finally reached the deal. it's understandable. it's a tough campaign schedule for all of you. chris cillizza, back to you on early voting. virginia one of the 29 states where there already is early voting under way. how are both campaigns trying to reach the early voters?

>> well, i would say, nbc's first read, your kind of early morning primer, put together by nbc politically, i thought was right. a two-minute ad that president obama is running in virtually every swing state and that -- certainly every swing state that's voting early and that ad's the kind of ad you run in the last week of the campaign. why now? the obama campaign understands everybody voting on november 6th is antiquated. lots of people vote early including earl states. they're saying we need to get our message now. this is where the obama team believes, it's hard to prove these things, because everybody throws a bunch of numbers at you, we knock on this many doors, made this many phone calls. the obama team believes the grassroot organization they built in '08 is alive and well and kicking, and better than anything that mitt romney can have built in that same time. and that it will deliver their supporters to the polls in these

early and absentee times and build leads for barack obama. we'll be monitoring it. i know you will be, too, monitoring what early vote looks like. remember, november 6th, yes it's election day, but lots and lots of votes will be cast before that. >> how does early voting change the dynamic if these are the committed base supporters, how does pocketing them early make a big difference? >> well the same way that you know the last five minutes of a game is critically important. if you've got three goals ahead of the other team, it's less critically important. you need to bank as many votes as you can, take advantage of the fact we're in hopes of get more people to vote, to widening the ways you can do that. you have to take advantage, state by state, you have to know all of state laws and take advantage of saying to your people, don't wait, go and do it. it doesn't matter if it's the middle of september, early october, november, go and vote. we want you in there.

and they can cross those people off. if you do enough of that, you spend the last week and a half, two weeks of the campaign talking to the 6%, 8% of people undecided and still haven't made their mind up, you try to win them over and get them to vote for you. >> good to get them in to vote before something bad happens. you never know what kind of events can shake up a campaign down the road, including debate performances. thank you so much, chris cillizza. up next, economic reality economic with steve rattner. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ♪ you do ♪ something to me ♪ that nobody else could do

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i believe, that as a nation, we're moving forward again. we're not where we need to be.

not yet. we've got a lot more folks who have to get back to work. we've got a lot more work to do to make the middle class secure again. but the question is, whose plan is better for you? >> president obama in virginia beach today. he still faces two more monthly jobs reports before election day and continued unrest in overseas markets. but the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" indicates a big bump up in the number of people who feel the country's headed in the right direction. is that feeling rooted in any hard facts? joining me in new york, steve rattner, wall street financier and former head of the president's auto task force. and our friend and colleague on "morning joe." >> yes. >> a number of indicators you're been looking at. tell us why there's a reason for people to begin to feel that things are moving in the right direction, despite the

unemployment numbers and everything else that's not coming together. >> a lot going on in politics and people talk about the state of the campaigns. but there are some interesting economic things going on. if we want to take a look at a couple of charts. the first chart to put the optimism in perspective and see where we came from, where we're going. back in 2009, about 42% of the people thought that the economy was getting better. but then it went essentially straight down into the sum of 2011 the economy was weak. since then it's been going up again. here at 42%, sharp upward turn recently. people are feeling more optimistic. why? a bunch of indicators one can look at but i've chosen to look at a few that reflect what affects individuals. first and foremost, of course, incomes. incomes, as we know, have been under a lot of pressure. and you can see here, that incomes went down for quite a while. this is real disposal income

after inflation, after taxes. look at a lot of different measures. it shows it going down. it has been going up steadily. went down again last summer along with the economy. but particularly these last six months, income growth has been strong. if you talk to the political scientists they will tell you that the trend is important as level. people have been feeling they have more money in their pocketbooks than before. >> first of all, a sharp decline which tells you why things were so bad politically for president obama, for everyone else. and then the turn upward is sharp as well. >> yeah. i think we want to put a caveat on all of this, as you said, there's a lot of sluggish economic indicates, unemployment, gdp, so on. again, i think the perception of a lot of people is the trend is what is important, as much as anything, and the trends are pretty good. another one that is important to individuals, house prices. we had a massive slide in house prices going back to well before president obama was put in office. and we had a few upward bump as

long the way. but just this year, and this may not look like much here, we've had a very sharp upward bump. the largest rise in house prices year over year in two years, 5.6% so far this year. i think a growing sense whether it's new home sales or housing starts a lot of the data have led economists, and therefore it gets transmitted into individuals, to feel that housing is actually making a real recovery now. and that's enormously important to people because moat of their wealth is in housing. >> a huge backlog of inventory in the housing sector which is still pulling things down? >> certainly there's that. certainly foreclosures going on. when you look at inventory numbers they are coming down. and the pace of home sales is going up. people can sell their houses now. and so it's been generally a -- look everything is compared to what? it was compared to a pretty rough period but it's clearly getting better. there's one last thing that affects people more and more, the stock market. not everybody owns stocks

directly but people have 401(k)s, increasingly, and like the nfl referees are going to have at some point along the way here, and that affects them directly. what it doesn't often get mentioned is how extraordinary the performance of the stock market has been during president obama's tenure. it's more than doubled and it's up about 14%, just this year so far. and so if you have some of your money in 401(k)s, in a mutual fund, you feel better. you feel wealthier, you're willing to spend. consumer spending has been going up consumer confidence number have been going up. people have a general feeling we're off the bottom. they know it's bad but we're off the bottom and that's reflected in the poll numbers and the president's political situation. >> we should point out the big caveat, unemployment is still high among minorities, young people, among other groups, we're talking about african-americans, hispanics, young people, the unemployment rate is sky high still

persistently. this wealth effect is not widely spread throughout the society, that the income gap is spreading. >> right. and the long-term unemployed problem is terrible. we're not short of economic problems. i'm not sheer to proclaim that you know suddenly we're robust again. but if you want to understand why the president's doing better in the polls, apart from the campaign and who's running a better campaign, i think it's rooted to economic facts, which is modest upturns in a number of the indicators. >> steve rattner with real facts, thank you very much. love the charts. with todd akin staying put, will top republicans start funding his campaign? stay with us. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day with less chronic osteoarthritis pain.

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nothing artificial. ♪ it's all that sweet ever needs to be. new nectresse. sweetness naturally. wthe future of our medicare andr electiosocial security. for... man 1: i want facts. straight talk. tell me your plan... and what it means for me. woman 2: i'm tired of the negative ads and political spin. that won't help me decide. man 2: i earned my medicare and social security. and i deserve some answers. anncr: where do the candidates stand on issues that... affect seniors today and in the future? find out with the aarp voters' guide at earnedasay.org the fight to control the senate could turn on what happens in missouri where republican nominee todd akin has defied party leaders and is staying in the race past that deadline to get out. joining me now, senator patty murray, chair of the campaign

committee. thank you very much for joining us. all eyes are now on what your counterparts on the republican side are going to do. they have not yet committed to money but they have been saying that they are supporting todd akin, and we heard from roy blunt, senator in missouri, republican senator in missouri, endorsing him. what do you think is happening out there? >> well, look, what todd akin said was so offensive that there were different kinds of rape using the term legitimate and saying that somehow women have defenses against rape so they won't get pregnant, so offensive to me and to women in missouri, women and men across this country, and so offensive the top republican officials up and down said, we can't support this man. what changed in two weeks that they now say that this is a position of their party, that they will support him? perhaps put money into the race, i find that extremely offensive and i think people in missouri and across the country will as well.

>> isn't it basically that this could be the race that turns the senate? i mean if you're sitting in their chair in their shoes, would you not take a hard look at this and decide, well, we've got to support them, haven't democrats supported candidates that didn't fit into the national democratic campaign strategy just because every race is so important? >> well, let's me be really clear. just a few weeks ago, every one of the republicans said that what he said was so offensive and how he said it was so offensive that they could not support him. and they are going to have to answer to the question about why is it not offensive today? i think that is a legitimate question that is going to be asked, not just of the republicans who now are going to endorse him or put money in, but of every republican candidate who is running, who is being funded by the outside organizations as well, as what do you stand for. >> why do dwyou think the race reportedly as tight as it is, based on what we're hearing from

the ground in missouri? claire mccaskills a respected senator, she's had political problems back home but why should she be in a competitive race against someone who has said these outrageous things? >> let me take you way back to a year and a half ago when i was asked to take on the chair of the democratic senate campaign committee and there wasn't one person really who thought that we had a chance of keeping the majority. a lot of things have changed since then. in missouri, todd akin's comments. in our country, people looked at democrats and saw that we were fighting for things that claire mccaskill wants to fight for, the middle class, making sure people have an opportunity. claire is getting that message out. i believe she's going to win and i believe she'll be back here as united states senator to help us fight for values that we all have said this election is. >> which races are you most concerned about? would bob kerrey in nebraska be top of the list? >> i will tell you this, we have

23 seat up on the democratic side they have 10 seats up on the republican side. even that that climate with many red states, like nebraska, like missouri, like montana we have a clear shot of not only keeping majority but doing well because of what i said. people understand that what the tea party and the conservative republicans have put up as candidates is not what mainstream america wants. mainstream america wants to make sure their kids get an education, they have access to health care we don't revamp the entire social security system to meet inside restrains that paul ryan thinks works but doesn't work for america. this is real questions on voters' mines and that's changed the dynamic of the election and we're seeing great candidates on our side with that message who are going to win in november. >> and in massachusetts, republican scott brown has apologized for what some of his aides did in appearing on this

video where they were mocking elizabeth warren for her native-american heritage. that is apology sufficient and should this be an issue in this campaign? >> certainly it's up to the people of massachusetts to determine that. they have watched this race, they have seen scott brown tell people to take a look at elizabeth warren to determine her heritage, which is frankly offensive to me, people in massachusetts will make that determination. but i will say this. again, we have a race where elizabeth warren is fighting for the values that american families care about, making sure we all have an opportunity that our kids all have access to education, that medicare and medicaid are there for our families within we need them and that's the difference in the election and i believe strongly that elizabeth will do well in massachusetts in november. >> senator patty murray, thank you very much. thanks for being with us today. and developing now, on "andrea mitchell reports," we are watching the united nations where israel's prime minister,

benjamin netanyahu, has just arrived. he's expected to address the general assembly minutes from now. stay with us for live coverage. [ male announcer ] the perfect photo... [ man ] nice! [ male announcer ] isn't always the one you plan to take. whoa, check it out. hey baby goat... no that's not yours... [ hikers whispering ] ...that's not yours. [ goat bleats ] na, na, na -- no! [ male announcer ] now you can take a photo right from video, so you'll never miss the perfect shot. [ hikers laughing, commenting ] at&t introduces the htc one x. now $99.99. rethink possible. the economy needs manufacturing. machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning. i'm proud of that.

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geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. developing now, as you can sigh, benjamin netanyahu, the prime minister of israel, just now taking the podium at the united nations. he will be we expect the last speaker before they take a lunch break. this is a much-awaited speech. and he is expected to talk principally about iran, but he may respond as well to what we heard earlier from the palestinian president abbas. prime minister netanyahu. >> distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, 3,000 years ago king david reigned over the jewish state in our etern fa eternal capital, jerusalem. i say that to all of those who

proclaim that the jewish state has no roots in our region and that it will soon disappear. throughout our history, the jewish people have overcome all the tie rans who have sought our destruction. it's their ideologies that have been discarded by history. the people of israel live on. we say in hebrew [ speaking foreign language ] and the jewish state will live forever. the jewish people have live in the land of israel for thousands of years. even after most of our people were exiled from it, jews

continued to live in the land of israel throughout the ages, and the masses of our people never gave up the dream of returning to our ancient homeland, defying the laws of history, we did just that. we gathered the exiles, restored our independence and rebuild our national life. the jewish people have come home, we will never be uprooted again. yesterday was yom kippur, the holiest day of the jewish year. every year for over three millennia we have come together on this day of reflection and atonement. we take stock of our past.

we pray for our future. we remember, we remember the sorrows of our persecution. we remember the great travails of our dispersion. we mourn the extermination of a third of our people, 6 million, in the holocaust. but at the end of yom kippur we celebrate. we celebrate the rebirth of israel. we celebrate the heroism of our young men and women who defended our people with the indomitable courage of joshua, david, and the macabees of old. we celebrate the marvel of the flourishing modern jewish state. you see in israel, we walk the

same paths tread by our pate arcs, abraham, isaac and jacob. but we blaze new trails in science, technology, medicine, agriculture. in israel the past and the future find common ground. unfortunately, that's not the case in many other countries. for today a great battle is being waged between the modern and the medieval. the forces of modernity seek a bright future in which the rights of all are protected in which an ever expanding digital library is available in the palm of every child in which every life is sacred.

the forces of medievalism seek a world in which women and minorities are subjugated in which knowledge is suppressed, and in which not life but death is glorified. these forces clash around the globe. but nowhere more starkly than in the middle east. israel stands proudly with the forces of mod dernty. we protect the rights of all of our citizens, men and women, jews and arabs, muslims and christians, all are equal before the law. israel is also making the world a better place. our scientists winnow bell prizes. our know-how is in every cell phone and computer that you're using. we prevent hunger by irrigating air rid lands in africa and asia.

recently i was deeply moved when i visited one of our technological institutes in haifa and i saw a man paralyzed from the waist down, climb up a flight of stairs easily with the aid of israeli invention. israel's exceptional creativity is matched by the people's remarkable compassion. when disaster strikes anywhere in the world, in haiti, japan, india, turkey, elsewhere, israeli doctors are among the first on the scene performing life-saving surgeries. in the past year i lost both my father and my father-in-law. in the same hospital wards where they were treated israeli doctors were treating palestinian arabs.

in fact, every year thousands, thousands of arabs from the palestinian territories and arabs from throughout the middle east come to israel to be treated in israeli hospitals by israeli doctors. i know you're not going to hear that from speeches around this podium, but that's the truth. it's important to you are aware of this truth. and it's because israel cherishes life that israel cherishes peace and seeks peace. we seek to preserve our historic ties and our historic peace treaties with egypt and jordan. we seek to forge a durable peace with the palestinians. president abbas just spoke here. i say to him, and i say to you, we won't solve our conflict with

libelist speeches at the u.n. that's not the way to solve them. we won't solve our conflict with unilateral declarations of statehood. we have to sit together, negotiate together, and reach a mutual compromise in which a demilitarized palestinian state recognizes the one and only jewish state. israel wants to see a middle east of progress and peace. we between see the three great religions that sprang forth from our region, judaism, christiani christianity, islam, coexist in peace and mutual respect. yet the medieval forces of radical islam, whom you just saw

storming the american embassies throughout the middle east, they oppose this. they seek supremacy over all muslims. they are bent on world conquests they want to destroy israel, europe, america. they want to extinguish freedom. they want to end the modern world. now, militant islam has many branches from the rulers of iran with their revolutionary guards to al qaeda terrorists to the radical cells lurking in every part of the globe. but despite their differences, they're all rooted in the same bitter soil of intolerance. that intolerance is directed first to their fellow muslims and then to christians, jews, buddhists, hindus, secular

people. anyone who doesn't commit to their unforgiving creed. they want to drag humanity back to an age of unquestioning dog na, unrelenting conflict. i'm sure of one thing. ultimately they will fail. ultimately, light will penetrate the darkness. we've seen that happen before. some 500 years ago the printing press helped pry a cloistered europe out of a dark age, and eventually ignorance gave way to enlightenment. so, too, aa cloist cloistered m east will yield to the irresistible power of freedom and technology. when this happens, our region will be guided not by conspiracy

but by reason and curiosity. i think the relevant question is this. it's not whether this fa nattism will be defeated. it's how many lives will be lost before it's defeated? we've seen that happen before, too. some 70 years ago the world saw another fanatic ideology bent on world conquest. that went down in flames, but not before it took millions of people with it. those who oppose that fanaticism waited too long to act. in the end they triumphed, but at a hour rirrific cost. we can't let it happen. the stake isn't merely the

future of my country, it's stake is the future of the world and nothing could imperil our future more than the arming of iran with nuclear weapons. to understand what the world would be like with a nuclear-armed iran, just imagine the world with a nuclear-armed al qaeda. now, it makes little difference whether these lethal weapons are in the hands of the world's most dangerous terrorism regime or the world's most dangerous terrorist organization. they're both fired by the same hatred. they're both driven by the same lust for violence. just look what the iranian regime has done up until now without nuclear weapons. in 2009 they brutally put down the protests, mass protests for

dp democracy in their own kuncount. today their henchmen are participating in thousands of slaught ers of syrian civilians including thousands of children. they abetted the killing of american soldiers in iraq and continue to do so in afghanistan. before that iranian proxies killed hundreds of american troops in beirut and in saudi arabia. they've turned lebanon and gaza into terror strongholds imbedded a hundred missiles and rockets in civilian areas. thousands of these rockets and missiles have already been fired at israeli communities by their terrorist proxies. in the last year they've spread their international terror networks to two dozen countries across five continents from indian thailand to kenya and

bulgaria. they've even plotted to blow up a restaurant a few blocks from the white house in order to kill a diplomat. of course, iran's rulers repeatedly deny the holocaust and call for israel's destruction almost on a daily basis as they did again this week from the general -- from the united nations. so i ask you, given this record of iranian aggression without nuclear weapons, just imagine iranian aggression with nuclear weapons. imagine their long-range missiles tipped with nuclear warhea warheads, their terror networks armed with atomic bombs. who among you would feel safe in the middle east?

who would be safe in europe? who would be safe in america? who would be safe anywhere? now, there are those who believe that a nuclear-armed iran can be deterred like the soviet union. that's a very dangerous assumption. militant jihadists are not secular muslims. militant jihadists behave very differently from secular ma markists. there were no soviet suicide bombers, yet iran produces hoards of them. deterrents worked with the soviets because every time the soviets faced a chis between their ideology and survival, they chose their survival. but deterrents may not work with the iranians once they get

nuclear weapons. there's a great scholar of the middle east, professor bernard lewis who put it best. he said that for the ayatollahs of iran, mutually assured destruction is not a deterrent, it's an inducement. iran's apock liptic leaders believe that a medieval holy man will reappear in the wake of a deadly holy war, thereby ensuring their brand of radical islam will rule the earth. that's not just what they believe. that's what's actually guiding their policies and actions. just listen to the itall la who said i quote the use of one nuke ar bomb inside israel will destroy everything. however, it would only harm the islamic world.

he said it is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality. not irrational. that's comes from swuld so-called moderates from iran. shockingly some people have begun to peddle the notion that a nuclear-armed iran would actually stabilize the middle east. that's like saying a nuclear armed al qaeda would usher in an era of universalal peace. ladies and gentlemen, i've been speaking about the need to prevent iran from developing nuclear weapons for over 15 years. i spoeke about it in my first term in office as israeli prime minister. i spoke about it when i left office.

i spoke about it when it was fashionable and spoke about it when it wasn't fashionable. i speak about it now because the hour is getting late, very late. i speak about it now because the iranian nuclear calendar doesn't take time out for anyone or for anything. i speak about it now because when it comes to the survival of my country, it's not only my right to speak, it's my duty to speak. [ applause ] i believe that this is the duty of every responsible leader who wants to preserve world peace. for nearly a decade the international community has tried to stop the iranian nuclear program with diplomacy. well, that hasn't worked.

iran uses diplomatic negotiations as a means to buy team to advance it's nuclear program. for over seven years, for over seven years the international community has tried sanctions with iran under the leadership of president obama, the international community has passed some of the strongest sanctions to date. i want to thank the governments represented here that have joined in this effort. it's had an effect. oil exports have been curbed, and the iranian economy has been hit hard. it's had an effect on the econo economy, but we must face the truth. sanctions have not stopped iran's nuclear program either. according to the international atomic energy agency, during the last year alone iran has doubled the number of